Monday, November 25, 2013

The fourth grade students created these eye catching designs using regular wax crayons. The first step was to find all the lines of symmetry for their square and fold the paper along each line. They then drew a simple design in one of the eight "slices" of their square created by the folds. After the design was done, they folded it along ONE of the lines of symmetry, and rubbed the back of the paper with a hard object (we used the handle of our scissors) to transfer the wax to the facing slice of paper. We then repeated the tracing-folding-rubbing sequence until the whole square was full. The students chose 4-5 colors of crayons to color their design. Once finished, we crumpled up the paper to create cracks in the wax. They then brushed thin black paint over the design and wiped it clean with a damp paper towel. The result looks and even feels like fabric!

I loved this lesson from Fine Lines so much, I wanted to try out a simpler version for my second graders. We used pencil and eraser to draw pumpkins, using the sizes to show distance in our picture. We colored them with oil pastel and used value to make them look three-dimensional and round. The pumpkins look like they are glowing in the moonlight!

I know, it's almost Thanksgiving. But these adorable spiders have been
hanging in the hallway for a while, and it's time for them come down.
The kindergarten students created these funny little creatures, starting
with a line drawing to create a spider web. We then dipped a koosh ball
in black paint and stamped it onto our web. Koosh balls are super fun
painting supplies! I found ours in the dollar spot at Target, and we use
them for lots of different things. They were just perfect for making a
hairy spider body. We then cut strips of paper to make legs, making sure
we counted to eight to make the right amount. The final touch was
making eyes with a cotton swab and white paint. I love their
personalities!

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Why no October entries?? Well, for the last few weeks, the elementary students have been hard at work making "fishy" art work to decorate the lobby of our auditorium. The middle school put on the play "Little Mermaid Jr." and asked us to help decorate. Each class made a different project, and all were hung on the walls, windows, and doors of the lobby and down the halls. It's amazing how much space 400 pieces of art can take up!

These beautiful fish rainbow fish were created by each kindergarten class. After reading about author Marcus Pfister's "Rainbow Fish" had to share his shiny scales to make friends, each student made a scale from a paper plate and covered it in shiny glitter. We attached all the scales together to make a huge rainbow fish for each class!

The first grade students read the book "I am the Best Artist in the Ocean" about a very confident giant squid. Each student made their own squid, complete with long tentacles, and wrote a quote about what they are best at.

Second graders used liquid watercolors and white crayons to make these
amazing underwater jellyfish scenes. We were inspired by this project I discovered on pinterest.

In third grade, we have been talking about unity and variety. To make these coral reef pictures, we used opposites: big and small, near and far, high and low, in front and behind, etc. The water effect was done with plastic garbage bags and liquid watercolor.

These beautiful fish were made by 4th grade students who first used glue
to design their fish, and then colored with analagous and complementary
colored chalk.

Finally, the 5th grade used watercolors to complete these colorful fish.

The display was hung by parent volunteers. What a great show of teamwork to show off our schools' talented artists, musicians, and actors!

Monday, November 4, 2013

Third grade learned about 1-point perspective this week with these great scarecrow pictures! The lesson was inspired by these great scarecrows
from A Faithful Attempt. First, we drew a picture of a scarecrow,
thinking about all the things we would need from around the house to
make the heads, bodies, hands, feet, etc. Then we used 1-point
perspective to make a field. We first had to add a horizon line, find a
vanishing point, and then draw the lines of perspective to make the
field look like it went on for miles. We used colored pencils to color
the details, and finished off the background with washable markers and
water.

About Mrs. Simonsen

Hi! Welcome to my blog. I teach art to about 450 students, grades k-5. I am also a happy wife and loving mother of a four-year old son and newborn baby girl. When I'm not teaching art or collecting ideas for my classroom, you can find me cooking, crafting, or online shopping!